Hillsmith studied under such teachers as William Zorach and Yasuo Kuniyoshi for one year while at the Art Students League.

[1] Fannie Hillsmith held her first art show in New York at the Norlyst Gallery, owned by Jimmy Ernst, in 1943.

[2] Hillsmith displayed her work in three shows at the Art of This Century Gallery in Manhattan, which was owned by Peggy Guggenheim.

[1] Hillsmith began working at Atelier 17, which was an intaglio printmaking workshop owned by Stanley William Hayter, in 1946.

[6] Hillsmith also taught briefly at Black Mountain College, located in Asheville, North Carolina.

[1] Hillmsith's style of Cubism combined traditional Cubist motifs with what she called "an early American feeling.